[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 104 (Tuesday, July 24, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H4434-H4435]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      SUPPORT THE GANSKE-NORWOOD-DINGELL PATIENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS

  (Mr. PASCRELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I have always been a strong advocate of 
the Patients' Bill of Rights and am proud to be part of cosponsorship 
of the Ganske-Norwood-Dingell bill, which is the bill that we will be 
debating this week, and no other bill.
  There are protections within the Patients' Bill of Rights. The 
Patients' Bill of Rights creates an external appeals process that, once 
exhausted, allows the patient to pursue claims against the HMO in State 
or Federal court, depending on the cause of their harm.
  What is getting those opposed to patient protection all hot under the 
collar? Because opponents do not want

[[Page H4435]]

hard-working Americans to have access to their State courts when HMOs 
deny them proper health care. This hypocrisy escapes no one. No one is 
paying attention to the fact that the great defenders of ``States' 
rights'' in this Chamber are the ones opposed to allowing Americans 
access to State courts.
  And why is it? Because they are afraid. They are afraid to let juries 
and State courts make decisions about what an HMO owes a patient who 
has been harmed as a result of the HMO's heartless, bottom-line-driven 
cost-cutting.

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